LED Fresnels from Litepanels’ Sola ENG Flight Kit were used to light locations
with restricted space on Farzana Trejani’s short film, The Other Woman, a co-
production between Mandala Films and Beyond Mirrors Ltd.
Directed by and written by Farzana Tipurita and produced by Chris Carr, owner of
Beyond Mirrors, the short film depicts a life-changing encounter at a beauty salon
between a wife who’s hiding her unhappiness behind Gucci shades, and a mistress
who’s concealing her frustrations behind a professional facade.
During the filming, DOP Chris Moon used HMI lights with daylight conversion
filters for the general lighting set up. However, for particular locations with limited
space, notably scenes shot in a bedroom and a treatment room, gaffer Matthew Riley
suggested smaller Litepanels LED Fresnels should be used. One benefit of the cool-
running LEDs was they prevented the small set from becoming uncomfortably hot.
The daylight balanced Sola ENG provides controllability and single-shadow
properties inherent in a Fresnel light, but uses just a fraction of the power of
conventional fixtures. Like all Litepanels fixtures, Sola Fresnels feature smooth
dimming from 100 percent to zero with no noticeable colour shift, and offer beam
control of 50º to 15º.
Gaffer Matthew Riley explained: “We tried out the Litepanels Sola ENGs and one of
the greatest benefits in using these heads was being able to match the daylight
fixtures easily, and gel them up the same.’
The Sola ENG fixtures have been designed for on-camera or stand mounting,
providing manual focus and dimming control via camera-like ergonomic controls.
Output from the LED fixture is fully flicker-free, and remains consistent even as the
battery voltage goes down.
Riley continued: “We mainly used the head as an eye light, and to back light
some smoke on a few shots. We discovered that a Sola ENG, full spot, dimmed right
down and with the soft box on, created a beautiful quality eye light. It provided a
slightly larger source, with a soft drop off round the edges. On a couple of occasions
we even used it to give us our key against daylight in tight spaces.
“The Sola ENG fixture opened up a number of creative options on the shoot. We
were really impressed with the quality of the flood and the spot, and the amount of
punch the fixture had, like a lightweight pocket par. One outstanding feature is that
the dimmer is integrated into the head, we actually used this for a gag in a shot as a
door opening. It’s a very handy little kit, and perfectly transportable as it all fits into
a Pelican 1510 carrying case.’
The Sola ENG Flight Kits are ideal for news and professional videography,
designed for on-camera and portable use. Each kit weighs just 30 pounds so it can
be easily transported and includes three Sola ENG LED Fresnel fixtures with a range
of accessories including three stands, a softbox, power supplies, gels, barndoors and
mounting accessories.
The Other Woman is screening in the short film corner at the Cannes Film
Festival. For more information see http://www.cannescourtmetrage.com/en/presentation
